Love is a strong bond
by Clove09
Summary: What happens when Katniss becomes sick. Her whole family stays by her side including Peeta. Will Peeta want revenge on Snow for how he got Katniss sick? will Katniss get better?


Katniss groaned, she knew she couldn't keep running from her problems forever. She was already worn out, and there is nowhere else to go or hide. She had to take whatever the consequences were for assaulting the president. She emotionally assaulted him. Mocked him, which is what she did. She began to think how she could be so stupid.

"There she is the girl on fire, aw…" he thought as he walked up to her. Katniss was collapsed on her side; she fainted into unconsciousness unable to move anymore. "Try this on for size." He says, the person had a hood over him hard to identify him. He took out a needle, filled with very purplish liquid. He injected it through her shoulder. "Enjoy your friends. It will be the last thing you will see. Then no one will remember the girl on fire."

Prim was beginning to become worried. She had been pacing all over the house. It was bound to drive Gale nuts. "Prim, please stop pacing and sit down," he admits irritated.

"I'm sorry Gale. I just couldn't believe Katniss wondered off from Finnick and Peeta." She says, "anything could happen to her."

"Don't worry Effie is with them, they will find her." Gale tried to assure her.

Katniss awakened one more time; she thought she heard voices, calling her name. She couldn't respond she was too weak to respond right back. It wasn't long until someone spotted her. It was a high pitched voice but she couldn't make the person in her visions out. She just collapsed again.

"Over here!" Effie shouted, "Peeta! Finnick! I have found her!"

Peeta rushes up first. He could see Katniss lying in a very scary pool of blood. She had very minor cuts and scrapes; one of the cuts was across her chest and forehead above one eyebrow which are worse than the others. "Effie!" Peeta calls back, "Katniss is hurt."

Effie runs up only to see Katniss still out cold. "We need to get her home to her mother."

Peeta notices Katniss is shivering. "Here wrap her up in this," Finnick offered. He handed Peeta a blanket. Peeta began to wrap Katniss's whole body around it, and he lifted her up gently, trying not to inflict her wounds anymore, he could already see she's whimpering in pain.

"I am going to hate myself in the morning." Peeta mumbled over concerning himself of what everyone is going to think when he returns, to Katniss's house. He began to head straight running with her in his arms. "Hold on Katniss," he says, "you're going to be okay." As he ran he could see another girl passing by. She looked concerned to him, and stopped. She knew Katniss, and had to alert the rest of the everdeens. "Excuse me," Peeta interrupted her. "Tell her mother it's important. Katniss is going to need a lot of medical attention."

It wasn't long until they made it to the house. Gale sees them coming and rushes into the house. "Prim! Katniss has been found!"

"Is she okay?" Prim asked.

"No, go get your mom! She doesn't look too good," Gale warned.

"Leonesse just told me everything…quickly we need to get her medical help!" Mrs. Everdeen rushed in with a bandage to make a torniquet. She put a hand on her daughter's forehead. Katniss felt warm, and it was shocked at the feeling of her forehead, it is boiling hot. She reacted quickly, "Gale, grab the spuka herbs from the cabinet! Peeta, make sure her fever doesn't go up!"

Leonesse herself supported Katniss and Peeta's relationship, so that was fine by Gale himself. "Peeta, be gentle if she does happen to awaken, okay?" Leonesse speaks softly. Peeta nods.

"I am going to sit this out for a while," Gale says as he begins to go outside.

"I need to speak to him for a moment." Peeta says as he too walked out, but as he was walking out he could see Prim right next to Katniss stroking her arm. She was having a seat next to Katniss's bedside while stroking her arm, and watching her heart monitor which was making beeping noises. The sight of seeing Katniss in the state, which she is in, was making him have tears come to his eyes. He was trying to make himself look tough. Peeta walked outside only to see Gale sitting there, across rambling and mumbling his own words. "Gale." Peeta walked up to him, "are you okay?"

"I am fine. I just hate seeing Katniss in this state," he says.

"Me too, you're not the only one, no one wants to see her in this condition," Peeta says clasping his hand over his chest, "not even me. She nearly almost gave me a heart attack."

Prim was listening in on the conversation between Gale and Peeta. She can hear them, even if she is tending to Katniss. Katniss began to stir at her sister's touch on her forehead; Prim was moving some strand of her air out of the way. "Peeta…" she opened her eyes a little bit.

"No. it's me Katniss," Prim says. It was a relief to her that Katniss is going to be fine. Prim hugged her sister carefully. "Thank goodness."

Prim looks at Peeta, "go get Gale. He's going to want to see her."

Peeta nods, and he motions for Gale signaling that Katniss wants to see him. Peeta was waiting by the door, while Gale was visiting Katniss. "Hey Catnip," he says as he sat down beside her, "how are you feeling?"

"Like crap," she wheezed. It was true she hasn't been feeling that great since she has woken up. She's been having chills, fever, shallow breathing, and rapid heartbeat. Her throat is killing her, it's sore. Gale smiled at her comment, but his smile still disappeared.

"You're going to be fine," it was the only words Gale could tell her. "Leon is going to check on you in a couple of minutes." Gale could just admit the truth, Katniss does look as if she got worse.

"Where's Prim?" Katniss asked, "and Peeta?"

"Peeta went out with Prim to get more medical herbs from Greasy Sae," Gale says, "she will know what happened and give them to us."

"Ok," Katniss says tiredly, she could feel her eyes beginning to drop. It's true she was tired and it isn't comfortable to feel congestion in your chest.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"No. I am not hungry right now," she says.

"Katniss you need to eat." Gale says out of concern, "you haven't eaten in days, since you were out cold."

Gale could see Leon waiting patiently for him to finish his visit. "I know Gale. I am just not hungry."

Gale nods. "Okay, we'll save dinner for you later. You just get some sleep." Gale then got up and walked up to Leon, "Leon she's ready for you."

"Right!" she says politely. She then nods her head and walks in.

Gale decided to stay by the door. It wasn't long until a blow of cold air came into the room with small snowflakes. Prim and Peeta just walked in. "We're back!" Prim announced. "Hey Gale!" She runs up and hugs him. Hopefully things were getting better and Prim hoped for the best as well.

Meanwhile, Leonesse decided to start the conversation. "Katniss!"

"Yes Leon," she wheezed.

She looked at the frail body of Katniss. "You poor thing. I know you're most likely not in the mood to talk…but this is urgent. What I'm going to speak of is not to be said around others…not even Peeta, or…Gale." She had difficulty including Gale, as she had a crush on him herself. "You have to swear not to tell them. Since you managed to sneak into Snow's office in an attempt to kill him, you probably know more than me about his building."

"Well…his building is huge. It is very hard to break into," Katniss admits. "But as I got in, I…don't even remember anything. All I remember is getting caught tried to escape him, but it turns out they found me in the forest. Since then I blacked out from losing blood, from all the things I was injured from. Things I don't know what it was."

Prim began to come into the room. "Leon!" she interrupted. She walked in with a bag of herbs from Greasy Sae, "here are the medicine herbs you asked for." She placed them on the floor. She then looked up and noticed Katniss.

Prim's eyes filled with tears. She didn't know that Katniss was fully awake and seeing her gray eyes again. Prim began to feel her anxiety lift, as she ran up to Katniss. "Katniss," she said.

"I'll apply them Prim, you did good today. Run along with that new friend you made today." She smiles at Prim as she makes her way out. Leon nods. "Very well…this is going to be shocking…" she sighs, ready to say it. "There are more countries outside of Panem. The one I come from is China Shin RI, formerly republic of China…but right now, it is just worse off Panem. However, unlike President Snow, our country has a liberation army that's going quite strong. We want to enlist the help of the small amount of rebels here in Panem."

"I see. It's going to be hard to kill Snow, he's got a lot of guards surrounding him protectively," Katniss warns.

"Yes, in order to recruit Panem we have to kill Snow. I was hoping you would succeed but there were too many guards, correct?"

"Yes, they are looking for her," Peeta interrupts before Katniss could even answer. "I don't think Katniss should go outside. She should stay here hidden." He was saying it out of concern, "they may try and hunt her down."

Leonesse twirls around. "So you heard everything?"

"Yes I know." Peeta says, "I just don't think Katniss should be going anywhere."

She sighs. "Peeta, Katniss is an integral to this plan, being a symbol of peace. So all she needs to do is rest, until this all leaks out to the public, all this news…I promise she'll have enough time."

"We have to hide her," Gale interferes, "they may check here for her."

"What about my family?" Peeta asked feeling agitated at the thought of them being asked questions, that they don't know the answer too.

"Haymitch and Effie put a watch on the bakery," Gale says. Peeta felt relieved.

She nods curtly and sternly. "We have Chinese rebels who snuck into Panem currently patrolling for Snow's soldiers and guards. The order is to kill the guards on sight."

"Yes. Snow really wants Katniss not here with us," Gale says.

"He won't get an inch near her, not while I am around," Peeta says. "He'll have to go through me."

Leon giggled, and she speaks. "Don't worry Peeta. You'll have your revenge. But in order for you to kill Snow, you've got to stick to my plans!"

"You being brave is a first," Katniss says.

She then continues to explain. "First off, you need a leopard-a model gun, as the first firing rate will far surpass his guard's guns. Second you will need a few spies watching at certain places, they will give you a call on a walky-talky if there are any security guards coming down the aisle. You will also have a team of snipers to watch your back."

"yeah I know," Peeta says.

She then takes a breath. "Peeta, you will carry out the mission."

"Yes ma'am," he responds. "I'll do it for Katniss, but what about Prim? Who is going to protect her?"

"After Snow is killed, we are to make negotiations with President Coin, who seems lately to be having a change of heart. She's not quite a nasty and cold as she once was, so hopefully a little praise will all that's left to do. We already made a pact of a 'no bombs' treaty. Prim will stay with Gale, and will research different medicines alongside our best doctors."

"Don't worry about me," Prim says. "I'll be fine. Besides we have Gale he's remaining behind with me and mom." Prim then walked over to sit down beside Katniss. "I am going to stay here and take care of Katniss. I am not going anywhere."

"In that case, we'll smuggle supplies over to you Prim." Leonesse states firmly, "hopefully these supplies will heal up Katniss, our peace symbol."

"Yeah but a lot of things we tried haven't been working which concerns me." Primrose says, as she remembers, "this illness Katniss has I believe is unknown to us." She begins to take Katniss's arm and begins to stroke it, "it's unknown to me and Peeta."

Katniss could feel herself beginning to be unable to breath. "Katniss are you alright?" Prim asked. Katniss began to black out. "KATNISS!" she says panicked. "Mom!" She cried. Prim ran to get her mom. Her mother knows about loss of oxygen. "mom!" she yelled, "Katniss needs help!"

"What's wrong Prim?" she asked.

"Katniss is low oxygen," she says.

"Ok I will handle this," she says. Her mom came into the room, "is she okay?" She sees Katniss shallow breathing, she then turned to everyone, and says "everyone leave the room for a second." It took a couple of minutes. "Katniss if you can hear me, try breathing this in." she says. She placed an oxygen mask over Katniss's face. Katniss began to breathe it in, and her breathing became steady. "there you go that a girl," she said. She knew Katniss had to keep it on accept for when she was coughing a lot of stuff from her lungs.

"Is she okay?" Gale asked Mrs. Everdeen.

"She'll be fine. She's going to need that oxygen for a while." Mrs. Everdeen says.

Prim and Gale just walked into the room, returning from their walk. They noticed Katniss is awake again from another one of her naps.

"Hey," Gale said with Prim by his side. "How are you feeling, Catnip?" he crossed the room and gave her a gentle hug.

"I've…been…better…" Katniss croaked and launched into a coughing fit.

"Hi Katniss," Primrose whispered.

Katniss's face softened. "Hey Prim," she says, "how are you…uh doing?"

"I'm okay," Prim shrugged.

"Do anything fun with mom and Gale?" she asked.

"Not really." Primrose stood wide-eyed from the bed viewing the state her sister is in, she was too afraid to approach her.

"Come here Prim," Katniss patted the space beside her, "I won't…breathe…on you."

Primrose took her hand and Katniss squeezed it. "So what'd you do last night?"

"We watched Effie tricket and Cinna talk last night on TV." Prim says.

"Cool…" Katniss stifled a cough, her chest aching. "What'd you…have-" she gasped, unable to restrain her coughs anymore.

Primrose's eyes went wide. She'd never heard someone cough so much based on what she has seen before. So long. Mrs. Everdeen grabbed her shoulder turning her away. Katniss's coughs turned into gags as she reached for the basin. Her eyes filled with tears she couldn't believe that was her sister.

Katniss gasped for breath, her throat was raw. "Hey…hey i-i-I'm okay…" she looked around at her worried family faces and tried to smile; "Prim…I'm okay."

"No, you're not!" she says out of anger.

Prim felt like she could no longer handle, seeing her sister in this condition. It was getting harder for her to hold her tears back like her sister would want. "I need to leave."

"Peeta go make sure Prim is okay," Mrs. Everdeen instructed.

"I will," Peeta says trying to be brave for Katniss; he was even holding back tears noticing how fragile Katniss is, and how low her oxygen levels were, just seeing her have the oxygen mask on made it hard for him to see. He walked outside only to see Leon and Gale still planning outside. Prim was nowhere in sight. _ Where's Prim? _Peeta thought to himself.

"That president is going to pay for what he did to Katniss," Gale says. "I want to kill him more than Peeta does. Because, she was my best friend."

"Prim," Peeta began to call her name. He couldn't get a response from her in the house. "Leon where's Prim?"

"She's hiding," Gale replies.

"Why?" Peeta asked.

"She can't stand seeing her sister that way anymore," Gale explains.

"I would like to speak with her," Peeta tells them.

"If we find her we'll tell you," Leon reassures.

"Where does Gale think she went since he's known Katniss his whole life, including Prim. He probably knows all of Prim's favorite hiding spots." Peeta guessed, "I am going back in with Katniss." Peeta walked back into the room where Katniss was. He sat down beside her. She was sleeping so he talked to her. "Katniss, I know you, we'll find Prim. I will make sure she knows that you are strong and you will pull through you're a fighter. Not quitter."

"Prim!" Gale called outside, "Prim where are you?"

"Up here," Prim answered. She was up in a tree.

"Prim come down from there," Gale ordered.

She begins to shake her head no.

"Leon help me with this," Gale asks.

Prim looked at Leon, "I don't want to see Katniss like this anymore. It's my reason for hiding up in a tree."

"Prim you can't stay up in a tree forever," Gale says, "because Katniss needs you."

"And Peeta is looking for you," Leon added. "He wants to talk to you."

Prim knew Gale was right; she couldn't just stay in the tree her whole life. She decided to come down, she started coming down the tree. Primrose came down from the tree. She ran up to Gale and hugged him. "I'm sorry for running off Gale. I just can't stand seeing my sister this way."

"I know. I can't stand it either." Gale says, "but she needs you right now." He was referring to back inside of the house, where Katniss is.

"What does Leon think?" Prim asks.

"I think we should give Katniss time and you should be by her side." Leon states firmly.

"Trust me, she needs not just Peeta but you too," Gale says.

Prim decided to go back to Katniss. They are right, she's not doing Katniss any favors by hiding. "She just gave me a real scare," Prim stated.

"Come on let's go in. She's probably sleeping, but will need you." Gale says taking Prim by the hand.

Katniss was asleep like Gale has predicted. Her breathing was rough and noisy. Peeta put his head in his hand, leaning against the fragile plastic armrest of the chair beside her bed. Primrose put a hand on Peeta's shoulder. "You're falling asleep Peeta. It's almost 2." She said, "Go ahead to bed. She's okay; I'll stay with her for a bit."

Peeta shook his head. "No," he sat up a little straighter. "I'm alright. You can go to bed."

"I was asleep before Katniss was up. I'm fine." Primrose stated she did take an eight hour nap so she's good for now.

Peeta brushed Katniss's wet hair out of her face and cringed. "She's burning up. She took some herbs; shouldn't that have brought it down?"

"Yeah, it should've." Primrose tipped toed over to the sink and wet a washcloth with cool water. She dabbed it over Katniss's face and wiped her neck and shoulders. "She's so sweaty."

"It's her fever and she's breathing hard." Peeta's voice dropped to a whisper, "I know I and her were both crying earlier."

"Crying?" Prim repeated.

"Yes." Peeta nods.

Primrose shrugged and took another washcloth from the basin filled with cool water. Katniss stirred slightly. "Mmmph," she mumbled and her eyebrows creased in confusion, "No…I can't…mine." Her mumblings become incomprehensible and louder. She took a wheezy breath and moved her arm out from underneath her.

"She has always talked in her sleep whenever she gets a fever." Primrose whispered and swiped the washcloth across Katniss's forehead. "Has since I was little."

Mrs. Everdeen was standing by the door, "Yeah, I remember."

"How is her oxygen and heartbeat?" Gale asked out of concern.

"It's better." Mrs. Everdeen said, "But not done with her sickness, she may need another chest scan in the morning. She's fine with the oxygen. Her heart rate and oxygen stats are stable for the night. We'll just let her rest as much as we can. I'll be right back to check on her again."

Peeta felt Katniss's forehead and sighed with relief. "Her fever dropped." Peeta whispered, more to himself than everyone else, "that's good." But his face creased in concern towards Primrose.

Katniss began to wake up feeling dizzy. She licked her lips…she was thirsty. She tried to reach for something, to call out, but she couldn't make her arms work; her voice came a grunt. She tried to speak, but launched into a coughing fit.

Peeta heard and was up in a flash. "Cough it up love," he reached for the basin, "cough it all up." He pulled the mask off.

Katniss choked and gagged over, and over before vomiting into the basin. She gasped. Primrose reached for the washcloth and dabbed Katniss's mouth. "Here, Katniss." She gasped several times, breathless and wheezing heavily.

Peeta squeezed her hand. "Are you okay love?" he whispered. Katniss shook her head. "Just, calm down." He brushed her hair from her face, "cough it up."

"Mom!" called Primrose, "I'm in Katniss's room. She's not feeling so hot and we can use some help."

"No problem," Mrs. Everdeen says.

Katniss began to cough again.

"Hey there." Mrs. Everdeen said quietly, "breathe, breathe."

"She's running a high fever again. Her heartbeat is rapid as well." Primrose patted Katniss's arm, encouraging her to stay awake. "Katniss," she says soothingly, "I need you to stay away so I can try and clear some of that gunk okay."

"Okay Katniss," Mrs. Everdeen bit her lip, thinking. She reached around Peeta, grabbed a cloth and wet it. Peeta took it from her.

"Um, if you like I can help clean her up and um…" he trailed off. He knew Katniss would like it better if someone besides her mother and sister helped her.

Mrs. Everdeen smiled, "No, that'd be very helpful. Keep her awake, if you can I'll be back with some ibuprofen."

Katniss blinked several times, forcing herself to keep her eyes open. She felt Gale's, gentle arms around her shoulders and her head was pounding she looked at Peeta who was talking to her mom who had three heads. She closed her eyes; her chest vibrated as she wheezed in and out. Something cool and soft stroked over her face and hands, bringing freshing relief to every inch of her burning, sweaty skin.

"W-Water," she mumbled and opened her eyes. Peeta handed her a straw, and water slid down her throat. It burned, but quenched her thirst. Everything seemed to be edged sword. She took another sip, and coughed again.

Katniss coughed in Peeta's face. "Sorry," she murmured and closed her eyes.

Peeta kissed her forehead. "It's okay love."

"How is she doing?" Peeta asked.

Mrs. Everdeen looked at the others, "she's sleeping already. You too really need some rest too."

Katniss had already fallen asleep, wheezing and already mumbling. Her head half on Peeta's chest. Peeta carefully eased himself from under her and kissed her head. "You deserve it. I love you." He whispered to her in her ear, "Get some rest. You deserve it."

Peeta just returned from a walk, he had a lot on his mind. Mostly his mind was on Katniss. He could see Gale was reading a book, when he returned. It was called to kill a mockingbird.

"Hey Gale," Peeta greeted.

"Hi," Gale replies back.

"How is Katniss?" Peeta asked.

"She's fine. Prim is in her room," Gale says.

"How is her fever?" Peeta asked.

"We are keeping an eye on it." Gale says, "so I don't know the answer to that."

Peeta nods. He waked right past Gale, he was standing at the door. He could see Mrs. Everdeen taking a cloth from the basin and she began to dab Katniss's forehead again. Prim was sitting right next to Katniss, holding her hand and stroking it lightly. "Poor lamb," Mrs. Everdeen says.

"How is her fever mom?" Prim asked.

"that depends." She says as she continued to wipe the sweat off of Katniss's forehead. "we have to get food into her."

"We need to find out what sickness this is. Incase others get it too." Prim says out of concern, "I don't know how we're going to make her better."

"Peeta..." Katniss whispered.

Prim smiled, "she must be dreaming about Peeta."

"Go get Peeta," Mrs. Everdeen says.

"She doesn't need too Mrs. Everdeen I am right here," Peeta says, "how do you suppose we get food into her?" he locked his blue eyes of concern on Katniss. "I hate to see her like this. it's hard."

"I am sure my mom and Leon have ideas," Prim smirked.

"Yeah that s if Leon pays attention she is pretty much hypnotized by Gale's good looks," Peeta teased.

Prim looked at him. "Sorry," he says.

"No it's fine," Prim says.

"I just had to tease Gale and Leon," Peeta snickered.

"Where's Leon by the way?" Mrs. Everdeen asks.

"I think she's out with Gale or probably in the living room," Peeta guesses.

"I'll find her." Prim says, "I need to ask her about Katniss anyway. and I need to do research on her sickness."


End file.
